A federal grand jury has indicted five Iowans on mortgage fraud charges, in a case led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and the Iowa Division of Banking. Nicholas A. Klinefeldt, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, announced the indictments. One indictment charges Jason Kibbee of Kellogg, Iowa with one count of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. The other indictment charges conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Lane Anderson of Altoona, Iowa; David Mable of Urbandale, Iowa; Shannon Flickinger of Earlham, Iowa; and Paul Kramer of Granger, Iowa.
The indictment alleges that Kibbee made false statements, used a disabled relative as a straw buyer, and forged documents in connection with a real estate transaction that he said would help a homeowner whose house was in foreclosure. Kibbee is also accused of keeping money paid by the homeowner instead of applying it to the mortgage. The indictment alleges that Kibbee was an employee of a mortgage brokerage at the time of the offenses and also owned a company that purportedly helped distressed borrowers with their mortgage loans.
The indictments follow the formation of the Iowa Mortgage Fraud Working Group to combat mortgage fraud in the Southern District of Iowa. U.S. Attorney Klinefeldt and Iowa AG Miller announced the federal-state partnership in December. The group identifies and investigates targets for criminal prosecution in the Southern District of Iowa and performs other important functions in the fight against mortgage fraud.
“This is exactly the combined effort we envisioned when we formed and announced this partnership,” said Miller. “I commend the all the hard work by the FBI and U.S. Attorney to pursue alleged mortgage fraud and I look forward to continuing this joint effort.”
Miller noted this partnership and indictments are separate from the national mortgage foreclosure and servicing civil investigation and settlement negotiations that he is leading on behalf of 50 state attorneys general.
